Nine out of 10 U.S. workers have worked in a team
led by a female manager and seven in 10 find female
managers effective, a survey has found. However,
while almost one-half of women say they would prefer
to work for a female manager, only 28 per cent of men
feel the same way, the online survey of 801 Americans
by ResumeLab revealed. Women are also much more
likely to feel positive about female leaders in their
organization (72 per cent) than men (53 per cent).
More than four out of 10 female respondents say
they would trust a woman more than a man to lead a
company, but only 17 per cent of men would give their
trust to a top executive who was a woman.
Just over half (52 per cent) agree that women
are over-represented in support functions such as
administration and almost six in 10 feel that women
are under-represented in management positions.
The top three industries named as most suitable for
women reflect ongoing stereotypes for gender roles —
health care (65 per cent), education/library (61 per
cent) and HR industries (53 per cent).
More than half of HR professionals in the U.S. are
personally willing to hire individuals with criminal
records, according to a report. However, only 38
per cent of business leaders share that sentiment,
revealed the 2021 Getting Talent Back to Work Report
by the Society for Human Resource Management
(SHRM) and the Charles Koch Institute — based on
interviews with 1,001 managers, 222 executives and
1,174 SHRM members. In terms of actual practice,
two-thirds of HR professionals and just under one-
half of business leaders say that their organization
has hired workers with criminal records.
Employers ask vaccination question
Yes
No
Unsure
HR OK WITH CRIMINAL RECORDS
Less than one in 10 U.S. employers plan
to ask job applicants if they have been
vaccinated against COVID-19, a survey
has found. However, significantly more
plan to ask their existing employees,
according to the Littler Annual
Employer Survey that polled 1,160 in-
house lawyers, C-suite executives and
HR professionals.
FEMALE LEADERS
FACE SCRUTINY
Interestingly, the gap between HR professionals
and business leaders is narrower when it comes to
their willingness to work with people with criminal
records — 66 per cent of the former, versus 56 per
cent of the latter.
Legal liability is the biggest concern among both
HR professionals and business leaders (36 and 32 per
cent respectively) related to employees with criminal
records. The second-most mentioned concern is how
customers would react to employees with records (31
and 30 per cent), followed by regulations making it
difficult to employ them (23 per cent for both).
41%
32%
27%
ATTITUDES TOWARDS WOMEN AT THE TOP
WILL EMPLOYERS ASK
WORKERS ABOUT VACCINATIONS?
55% 38% 37%
Would prefer
to work for a
female boss
Agree that female
leaders are held to
higher performance
standards than men
Feel it's better for
an organization's
image to be
represented by a
woman
www.hrreporter.com 15
